You may remember my ABC of Chippenham, which I made using Blurb's software a few years ago. I've wanted to do something similar with my Sign of the Times photography blog for a while, so the offer was timely.

It's not an automatic voucher; I had to apply for one, and as you can see from the above picture I was successful. Once Saal's application software is downloaded, you have two weeks in which to create your book and redeem your voucher at the checkout.

This short timeframe wasn't a problem as I managed to create the book I wanted over a couple of intensive days. However, I did spend quite a lot of time reviewing, shortlisting and sourcing the photos, plus sorting them into broad categories beforehand.This reduced the time needed within the application considerably.

My shortlist came to 400 photos (out of 850), so I decided to spend some extra to produce the book I really wanted. I chose the A4 landscape option as most of my photos are in that format and it also gave me slightly more space to play with for the price.

The photo book options presented at the start

Once the software is downloaded and the product and format selected, you are presented with some overall options. I chose a glossy cover (as it says a matte cover doesn't work well with dark pictures) and matte pages.

Don't worry about the number of pages option (like I was) as it's easy to add or delete pages later. However, it's good to be aware of what implications those decisions have on cost and you can see this on the screen throughout the book's creation.

Layout options

Next comes the mind boggling layout options selection. I would have liked more help at this point as it was difficult to know whether the simple or all-rounders layouts would be best for my book. I plumped for the all-rounder one, then found later on it was easy to add in page templates from the other layouts as and when needed.

I see another reviewer opted to use external software they're more familiar with to design and layout the book they wanted. As long as that software can export a pdf version, then that's no problem.

Most of the page layout screen

This is the main working screen. Depending on the layout option and number of pages chosen, the pages are pre-loaded with a variety of page templates, with more available to select under the Design heading on the right.

To the left you'll see the application has loaded in the images I wanted to use, which I'd pre-sorted into sub folders. I went through each folder in turn and chose a page template or two appropriate for the number of images there. It's then a simple matter of dragging and dropping each image into the container(s) on each page. The application also tells you whether the selected image is of sufficient quality for the book's image size selected.

My major quibble at this point is I found it quite difficult to use the crop function to get the image looking exactly how I wanted it when using the touch pad on my laptop. It's probably assumed a mouse is used with this application.

I'd also like more online help - what's available is woeful, especially when compared to Blurb. Click on the help option at the top of the page and there's a one page introduction to the book creation process. Hovering over the highlighted text on this page shows the small amount of additional help isn't translated from German.

Overall I found the application easy to use once I'd got use to it. After a bit of juggling over the two days, I ended up with a 70 page layout I really liked using 225 images from my initial shortlist of 400. NB I only added a minimal amount of text as this application is really geared towards images.

Part of the pdf preview document showing some of the different page templates chosen

I then quickly previewed my book using the pdf option as shown above. I'd recommend doing this as reviewing online doesn't always pick things up. I spotted a few corrections needed from the problems I'd had - I managed to misalign some of my images rather than crop them.

Then it was time to upload my book ready for printing and pay for it. Note that upload time can be quite long; my 70 pages took 35 minutes and we have superfast broadband.

Delivery time was quick - I uploaded my book on Tuesday evening and it arrived on Saturday morning from Germany, with plenty of tracking messages along the way to tell me about printing, dispatch and postal progress.

The finished result - Skimble wanted to read it too

I'm thrilled with the result. Colour reproduction is excellent and didn't need any adjustment during the book's creation. The pages are thick and stiff - more like photographic paper - and they lay flat, so the pictures across two pages still look good. The thickness of the pages explains why this is an expensive option compared to others - like Blurb - on the market.

Note that the first and last pages are glued onto the cover, but the images still look good - as you can see with my red shoes. There's also an unobtrusive QR code on the back cover; you can pay to remove it if needed.

This is a good product for a physical memento of a special occasion or for professional photographers wanting to present their portfolio in a tangible way. Those looking to produce something that's more of a mixture of image and text beyond just captions, will probably need to look elsewhere.

This was a fun project to do and I've thoroughly enjoyed revisiting my photos from Sign of the Times.

I look at my ABC of Chippenham quite a lot Sue, especially to see what's changed in the town since I put it together. I think there's something about the whole process of creating the book which means I like to look at the result. I've found the same so far with this one too :)

Your essential reads

The arrival of a big box is always exciting, like Christmas come early, and last week was no exception when a trial recipe box arrived courtesy of Riverford. They currently have Sarah Raven as guest chef and this was the first week out of four different recipe boxes on offer, with seasonally adapted recipes from her latest book, Good Good Food.

The box contains everything needed* to create three recipes with accompanying goodies for two people and retails at £36.95. There's a suggested cooking order for each dish; I reversed 2 and 3 as the chicken recipe requires marinading overnight. The dishes were:

Tomato and Poppy Seed Tart served with salad leavesSangria Chichen served with red rice and salad leavesSweet and Sour Vegetable Curry served with red rice
My box arrived on its appointed day last Wednesday at 7.30 am, much to our surprise. It seems deliveries can start as early as 6 am, so luckily ours arrived when we were awake**

Some days are destined to be extra special and the last day of September was one of them. Not only did I get to swan around a secret garden in the heart of London, I - along with twenty or so other garden bloggers - had the good fortune to meet Monty Don and preview his latest book, Down to Earth.

...nestled close to Piccadilly Circus and whisked up to the fourth floor, there's a different world waiting to be explored. It's a beautiful, productive roof garden complete with a bug hotel, bee hives and a green roof on the shed. It was a great space to explore with my blogging buddies and unlike my poor tomatoes, the hotel's were still going strong with not a hint of blight. I also envied the huge aubergines and curly chillies in the display.

There was plentiful space for entertaining, though we were too busy chatting and enjoying the warm afternoon in the garden to move onto the inviting sofas. Then Monty appeared…

I was really happy when Barbara gave me an unusual looking Pilea peperomiodes aka Chinese Money Plant last summer. Little did I know then just how cool and trendy they are, being at the forefront of the houseplant revival. They even have a dedicated Pilea Lovers page on Instagram with over 21,000 Followers - it's not often you'll find me amongst the hipsters!

I nearly wrote an article on my new treasure back then, but Jane beat me to it with a far more comprehensive guide than I could have managed with loads of links to further information. Jack's written a great blog post on how to divide them too.

When I noticed my plant wasn't looking quite as happy as it should as you can see above photo, I knew just the right people to consult on Twitter, along with Andrew who's acquired quite a houseplant collection recently.

From their replies it's clear I am a perfect example of how not to look after a Pilea as follows:Place it on your sunniest windowsill - south facin…

I entered a new world at the weekend, courtesy of my friend Sally who invited me to judge the flower classes at Foxham Horse Show. After I said I'd love to, a little bit of jiggery-pokery ensued and I swiftly achieved promotion to fruit, veg AND flower classes.

I was totally unaware this event existed until Sally volunteered as show secretary this year. Not only does it exist, it celebrated its 30th birthday on Saturday. The horse show is the main raison d'etre with around 300 horses attending this year's competitions of all kinds. The produce classes were added a couple of years ago as a fun way of involving more people.

Foxham is a small village around 5 miles north of Chippenham. It's a pleasant drive which follows Maud Heath's Causeway for quite a way and goes through the hamlet of Kellaways. This is the source for the naming of the Kellaways Formation, a particular series of sands and clays from the Jurassic period.* It shows even a tiny dot on the map can ach…

Garlic is one of my favourite crops to grow because it's so simple and you can easily save some cloves for next year. We use quite a lot of it every week, which makes garlic a must-have for my plot.

However, last year I was rather puzzled to find my harvest wasn't disappearing quite as quickly as expected. Some time later I found the solution to the mystery in our spice cupboard: a jar of garlic powder stood proudly in prime position on the top shelf.

It turns out NAH prefers using the powdered form because it's less fiddly and so quick to use. To say I was a bit cross when I tackled him about it is putting it mildly as I felt all my hard work up at the allotment was being rejected. Later when I'd calmed down and could put myself in 'my customer's shoes' I resolved to have a go at making my own garlic powder.

We both use the green garlic I grow which uses up the smaller cloves from a cropping garlic bulb. It starts the home grown garlic season much earlier…

When an owner says their garden is 'drier than Jerusalem', the last thing you expect is to arrive in a downpour of biblical proportions. That's what happened when I visited Ulting Wick recently. 'Third time lucky' I thought when I made the arrangements, as I've tried and failed to visit the past 2 years. That thought was almost my downfall. Almost.

The rain was coming down so heavily when I arrived I could hardly see out of the car window and I was deafened by the noise. Bright flashes of lightning made the courtyard stand out in stark relief for a second before fading again into the murk. I was giggling so hard at the irony, I struggled to get into my rain gear. Also which of the buildings I'd glimpsed should I run to for shelter?

Luckily owner Philippa Burough quickly came to my rescue and guided me to the potting shed where she and new head gardener Lou Nicholls had taken shelter from the storm. It was a great opportunity for Lou to take a selfie of us …

Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*.

It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby.

* = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then.

Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up.

Regular readers know I'm a sucker for plant trials - my own and other people's - so won't be surprised that at last I've managed to get over to Ball Colegrave's Summer Showcase. This event is aimed at professional horticulturists and the retail trade and shows off more than 50,000 plants at its grounds in Oxfordshire every July. Even on a dull grey day after last week's thunderstorms they made for an eye popping display.

As well as the chance to see hundreds of annuals and perennials - some completely new to the market - I also enjoyed the opportunity to talk to horticulturists from a wide variety of backgrounds, from nurserymen and local authority gardeners through to fellow garden writers and university gardeners, as well as Ball Colegrave's staff.

One of my most interesting discussions was with a couple of gardeners from South Gloucestershire council who were seriously considering the merits of the Phygelius plants in one of the experimental beds. I'…

The great thing about memes like #mygardenrightnow is they let us pause and have a proper look at the garden. I've been on holiday this week and I thought the recent cold snap would mean a wintery drabness on my return. Yesterday's inspection showed the garden's having none of it. There's still plenty to see, plus a few surprises.

Autumn hasn't quite finished here at VP Gardens, which means there are flashes of colour and some floral delights everywhere I look. True, they're on a smaller scale than previous editions of #mygardenrightnow, but the current season means they're especially welcome. Those fat hellebore buds shown bottom right in the collage also show promise of winter delights to come.

This plant always makes me smile at this time of the year: it's a reminder of a wonderful afternoon at Knoll Gardens in the company of owner Neil Lucas's enthusiasm a few years ago. He had many Persicaria to show us that day, and it was 'Fat Domino' that stole my heart with its large flower heads waving to me from the nursery area.

It's proved to be an easy care perennial since I placed it in the lower terrace bed; it only needs cutting down at the end of winter and then given a topping of mulch to see it through the year. It's rewarded me with over 60 flower heads from one plant, and when I peered below the leaves yesterday, it looks like I have a plant ripe for division into two. This is earmarked for behind the white phlox you can see in the background as there's a hidden gap there which needs to be filled.

I've also cleared a space in front of the phlox, which is thick with alliums in spring, but now needs something added there for later interest. …